Colorado Probate Timeline

A typical informal Colorado estate runs about 6 to 12 months from opening to closing. Simple estates can move faster. Estates with disputes, hard-to-value assets, or tax filings take longer. The floor is statutory: a personal representative generally cannot file the sworn closing statement earlier than six months after the original appointment or one year after the death, whichever occurs first (C.R.S. 15-12-1003).

Use this Colorado probate timeline as a planning calendar, not a fixed schedule. Colorado venue has one quirk worth learning on day one. Probate is filed in the District Court for the county where the decedent lived, organized into 23 judicial districts, except in the City and County of Denver, where the standalone Denver Probate Court handles probate. Start with the Colorado probate guide if you are still choosing between informal and formal probate, and the Colorado personal representative duties guide for the full task list.

Colorado Probate Timeline at a Glance

These markers overlap. The will-lodging duty runs from death, the inventory clock runs from appointment, and the creditor bar runs from first publication. A Colorado probate timeline works best when you tag each deadline to its own trigger date instead of counting months from the funeral.

First Week: Records, Property, and the Original Will

The first week is about preventing avoidable delays, not finishing probate.

Start with:

• certified death certificates
• the original will and any codicils
• trust documents
• deeds and property tax records
• vehicle titles and registrations
• bank, credit union, brokerage, and retirement statements
• life insurance and beneficiary records
• mortgage, utility, insurance, and tax records

Keep the home secure, keep insurance active when possible, and avoid distributing property until authority is clear. Beneficiary-designated and joint accounts may pass outside probate. A solely owned account usually waits for letters or a qualifying small estate affidavit. If there is no will, Colorado intestacy rules decide who inherits, so review the Colorado intestate succession guide before promising anyone a share.

Within 10 Days: Lodge the Will

Whoever holds the original will must deliver it to the court with probate jurisdiction within ten days after the death, or as soon afterward as the custodian learns of the death (C.R.S. 15-11-516). For a Colorado resident, that is the District Court for the county where the decedent lived, or the Denver Probate Court for a Denver resident. Lodging is not the same as opening probate. It simply places the will in the court record.

The statute has teeth. A custodian who willfully fails to deliver the will is liable for damages to anyone harmed by the delay, and a court can use contempt powers after an order compelling delivery.

120 Hours: Opening the Estate

Colorado adopted the Uniform Probate Code, so most estates open informally through the court registrar without a hearing. The registrar cannot grant informal probate of a will or an informal appointment until 120 hours, five days, have passed since the death (C.R.S. 15-12-303(1)(h) and 15-12-308(1)(h)). Once the findings are made, the registrar appoints the applicant, and letters issue after qualification and acceptance (C.R.S. 15-12-307).

Two timing wrinkles:

• If the decedent lived outside Colorado, the registrar generally delays the appointment order until 30 days after death, unless the domiciliary personal representative applies or the will selects Colorado law (C.R.S. 15-12-307(1)).
• Formal probate, used when validity or priority is contested, runs on a petition-and-hearing calendar and takes longer.

Colorado sets no short deadline to open an estate, but most later deadlines run from appointment, so the calendar stays vague until someone qualifies. The Colorado probate guide walks through choosing informal versus formal proceedings.

10 or More Days: Small Estate Affidavit Window

If the estate holds only personal property and its value, less liens and encumbrances, does not exceed the statutory limit, successors can skip probate entirely. Any time ten or more days after the death, a successor can present a collection affidavit, Colorado form JDF 999, as long as no personal representative application is pending or granted (C.R.S. 15-12-1201).

The dollar limit adjusts for inflation each year under C.R.S. 15-10-112. For deaths in 2026 the limit is $88,000, per the Colorado Judicial Branch JDF 998 guide. The affidavit does not transfer real estate. See the Colorado small estate affidavit guide for eligibility and the form walkthrough.

Within 3 Months: Inventory

The personal representative must prepare an inventory of the probate estate within three months after appointment (C.R.S. 15-12-706). The inventory lists each asset with reasonable detail, its fair market value as of the date of death, and any encumbrance. Colorado lets you either file the inventory with the court or send copies to interested persons who request it.

Inventory work starts before the deadline. Build a list of:

• bank, credit union, and brokerage accounts in the decedent's sole name
• vehicles
• tangible personal property
• business interests
• refunds and checks payable to the estate
• real property the estate controls
• liens, secured debts, and disputed assets

If you later find assets or learn a value was wrong, file or circulate a supplementary inventory (C.R.S. 15-12-708). The Colorado personal representative duties guide places the inventory inside the full fiduciary sequence.

4-Month Creditor Period

Unless a year or more has already passed since the death, the personal representative publishes a notice to creditors in a county newspaper at least three times, once during each of three successive calendar weeks (C.R.S. 15-12-801(1)). The published bar date may not be earlier than four months after the first publication or one year after the death, whichever occurs first.

The personal representative may also mail written notice to known creditors. A noticed creditor must present its claim by the later of the published deadline or 60 days after the mailing, but never later than one year after death (C.R.S. 15-12-801(2)). Whatever notice goes out, pre-death claims die at the one-year mark after death if not presented (C.R.S. 15-12-803).

The creditor window is the main reason informal estates rarely close before month six or seven. Distributing before the bar date can expose the personal representative to personal liability. The Colorado creditor claims guide covers publication mechanics, claim forms, and disallowance.

Elective Share: 9 Months

A surviving spouse who wants the elective share instead of the will's terms must file the petition within nine months after the death or within six months after the will is probated, whichever expires later (C.R.S. 15-11-211). A petition filed more than nine months after death generally cannot reach the decedent's nonprobate transfers unless the court granted an extension requested inside the nine-month window. An open election can pause final distributions, so flag it early.

Tax Calendar

Tax timing depends on the estate facts.

The decedent's final federal Form 1040 and Colorado individual return are generally due by the normal filing deadline, about April 15 of the year after the year of death. A fiduciary income tax return may also apply if the estate earns income during administration.

Federal estate tax is a separate question. IRS Form 706 is generally due nine months after death when the estate must file or wants a portability election, and a six-month filing extension may be available. Colorado collects no separate state estate or inheritance tax for current deaths. Fees and administration costs are a different line item, covered in the Colorado probate costs guide.

6 Months Minimum: Closing the Estate

An unsupervised personal representative closes informally by filing a sworn closing statement, but not earlier than six months after the original appointment or one year after the death, whichever occurs first (C.R.S. 15-12-1003). The statement verifies that claims, expenses, and taxes were handled, that assets went to the people entitled to them, and that distributees and unbarred creditors received a copy plus a written account.

Filing the statement starts two more clocks. Claims against the personal representative for breach of fiduciary duty are generally barred six months after the filing (C.R.S. 15-12-1005). If no proceedings are pending one year after the filing, the appointment terminates automatically (C.R.S. 15-12-1003(2)). Estates that need court-blessed finality can instead petition for a formal closing order.

3 Years: The Ultimate Limit to Open Probate

Colorado bars informal probate, informal appointment, and formal testacy or appointment proceedings commenced more than three years after the death (C.R.S. 15-12-108). The exceptions matter, though. Beyond carve-outs for missing-person estates and contests of an informally probated will, C.R.S. 15-12-108(2)(c) provides that the time limits do not apply to appointment and testacy proceedings when no previous testacy or heirship proceeding for that decedent has been concluded in Colorado, a deviation from the uniform code that can leave the door open well past three years. The trade-off: a personal representative appointed under that exception generally has limited powers. If a family waited and real estate is stuck in the decedent's name, talk to a Colorado attorney about which path remains open before the facts get older.

What Can Slow the Timeline

A Colorado probate timeline can stretch when:

• the original will is missing or was never lodged
• heirs or devisees are unknown or hard to reach
• a will contest forces formal proceedings
• creditors dispute disallowed claims
• real estate must be sold to pay claims
• the estate owns a business interest
• assets are hard to value for the inventory
• tax filings need more documentation
• the surviving spouse files an elective-share petition

Some delays are unavoidable. Others come from missing a trigger date. Calendar each deadline from its own starting point: death for lodging and the creditor ultimate bar, appointment for the inventory and closing floor, first publication for the claim bar.

Practical Filing Calendar

Use this working calendar:

1. First week: secure property, order certificates, and locate the original will.
2. Within 10 days of death: lodge the will with the District Court, or the Denver Probate Court for a Denver decedent.
3. After 120 hours: apply for informal probate and appointment, or check small estate affidavit eligibility at 10 days.
4. At appointment: open an estate account and start the asset list.
5. Promptly after letters: publish the notice to creditors and mail notice to known creditors.
6. Within 3 months of appointment: finish the inventory and circulate or file it.
7. Month 4 to 6: review presented claims, pay or disallow them, and handle taxes.
8. After the 6-month floor and the claim bar: distribute and collect receipts.
9. Closing: file the sworn closing statement and calendar the one-year termination date.

This guide is general information about Colorado estates. It is not legal advice. Confirm anything that affects your situation with the District Court or Denver Probate Court handling the estate, or with a licensed Colorado attorney. Return to the Colorado probate hub for related guides.

Sources

Sources:

• Title: Colorado Revised Statutes. Publisher: Colorado General Assembly. Publication Date: Current statute access page, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://leg.colorado.gov/colorado-revised-statutes
• Title: Colorado Revised Statutes 2025, Title 15 (C.R.S. 15-11-211, 15-11-516, 15-12-108, 15-12-303, 15-12-307, 15-12-308, 15-12-706, 15-12-708, 15-12-801, 15-12-803, 15-12-1003, 15-12-1005, 15-12-1201). Publisher: Colorado Office of Legislative Legal Services. Publication Date: 2025 edition, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://olls.info/crs/crs2025-title-15.pdf
• Title: JDF 998, Guide to Collecting a Decedent's Personal Property ($88,000 limit for 2026 deaths). Publisher: Colorado Judicial Branch. Publication Date: Revised March 2026, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/sites/default/files/2026-03/JDF998.pdf
• Title: Courts. Publisher: Colorado Judicial Branch. Publication Date: Current court directory, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/courts
• Title: Estate Tax. Publisher: Internal Revenue Service. Publication Date: Current IRS estate tax page, accessed 2026-06-10. URL: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/estate-tax